Les petites du quai aux fleurs

Doctor Bernard Blier gets mixed up with the daughters of bookseller André Lefaur, (in his last screen role) when the youngest of the four, Odette Joyeux, imagines she is in love with her eldest sister's fiance, Louis Jourdan.

Poeple sometimes complain about American movies typecasting its stars. Here, Mlle Joyeux is, in reality nine years married and a mother, still playing a fifteen-year-old, in a movie that more than half a decade earlier, might have starred Deanna Durbin or the Lane sisters. It's a fluffy piece in line with Vichy dictates that only light fare be produced; defiance of this had gotten Clouzot interdicted for a couple of years.

It looks as if some of Marc Allegret's movie got left on the cutting room floor, as a couple of plot points are left unresolved. Perhaps the censors had some objections and the director was more concerned with his career continuing than with the doubtful artistic unity of this one.

Bittersweet comedy by Marc Allégret then in his best period (roughly from "Gribouille" (1937) to "Blanche Fury" (1947)).The cast is terrific :Louis Jourdan ,the most handsome actor of his generation who was more famous in America than in his native country (many French have never heard about him),Bernard Blier who was the precedent's exact contrary not really handsome but witty,Gérard Philippe in his second part on the screen (his debut was in Allégret's brother "La Boîte Aux Reves "),André Lefaur (last role ,but he died only in 1952);the female cast was not bad either:Odette Joyeux ,although she plays the part of an ingénue,was actually already 26 and an established name ;Danielle Delorme made her first three movies -this one is the third- with M.Allégret.Simone Sylvestre,who was the most attractive actress in the movie, fell into oblivion and so did ,to a lesser degree,Colette Richard.

An old secondhand bookseller ,on the banks of the Seine ,on the "Quai Aux Fleurs" has got four gorgeous daughters;several young men hover round them.Unfortunately for Rosine ,she is in love with her sister's fiancé and she feels suicidal.A good doctor comes to her rescue.Then begins a story made of light-hearted gallantries ,sometimes verging on tragic ;you can sum up the story like this: a young girl learns how it is painful growing up.

Best scene : a murder party ,like Agatha Christie loved them,in which the player who draws the ace of spade is the criminal;some kind of "real" "crime" is committed during the game .The scene of the presents ("I want something from both of you" )is a strong moment too.Add an ending which precludes any sentimentality and you've got an enjoyable little obsolete comedy;

While the story "proper" is hardly compelling or especially original, the dialogue by Marcel Achard sparkles and bristles with wit, the performances are uniformly superb (especially Bernard Blier and Odette Joyeux, who always shone in this kind of romantic comedy), but what really makes the film stand out is Henri Alekan's extraordinarily beautiful, masterful black and white cinematography. Even at that relatively early stage of his long career (which included Wenders' "Wings of Desire"), Alekan treats the spectator to seductive image after seductive image, with meticulous attention to detail in high-contrast lighting and composition. An absolute joy to watch (happily, the video copy was made from an excellent print), and could serve as a model for any aspiring cinematographer. "Les Petites du Quai aux Fleurs" is also interesting for the way in which it slyly alludes to its own period (the German Occupation of France) by placing here and there in the background posters for various other films from the period (notably, Jacques Becker's "Goupi Mains Rouges", and Marcel L'Herbier's "La Comedie du Bonheur").